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along of welcome to worlds apart with the syrian army making strategic advances and the west increasingly has a tent over its support of the rebels it looks like the rumors of the government's demise have indeed been greatly exaggerated but is squabbling the military rebellion enough to bring peace to syria to discuss that i'm now joined by amar what cough syrian political commentator mr mike i think you very much for your time now after predicting and then men and fall of the assad government for almost two years they german intelligence services have actually reversed that forecast now and they believe that it is more likely that assad government will survive this crisis maybe all on beasts very rare occasion you actually would agree really be a western ask them a situation in syria the issue that that was the thirty two year from the very beginning to the western estimators of the crisis was the level of the true support

that the current government in syria. now this support was always divided into different sections but accumulated the form a large proportion of the of the syrian population you have obviously the diehard president assad supporters or so those who support or would support the. government no matter what the situation is and then you have those who do not trust the opposition's intentions and then you have others who feel the directly threatened by the opposition's intention i think the the shift popular support is crucial here especially on the eve of the presidential elections that are expected to take place in two thousand and fourteen i wonder whether you think that this vote is likely to take place and most importantly whether bashar assad is likely to put up his candidacy for for those elections i think a fair forecast of the syrian future would be to have if nobody having an equal chance to prevent to present themselves or to present their followers was with

a certain project of reconciliation and restructuring in syria and if president assad proves to be popular then i think fairness says that he should leave the country that are on now of course there are no polls that we can really rely on to assess the extent of the public support that bashar assad enjoys in there in the country from my own personal experience in syria i think the support is quite substantial but regardless of his support domestically he does not enjoy that much support internationally and i wonder why there isn't if he ransom. if you wins do you think the so-called international community will leave syria long will allow syria to heal its. progress with the peace building i think that's a very important question and that's a very huge challenge for whoever becomes president of syria and if we think that

president assad will continue to be syria for another proof for another ten years of seven years then most probably he will find it a little bit difficult to frequency with its immediate surroundings of the arab states let alone the western countries who have combined spent a lot of resources to try and. jim but that is although this is an issue what is in the minds of syrians is to you know little the international community learn the lesson that no matter how much they try nothing is going to happen unless syrians in their majority approve of it but i think that lesson to be taught to the western community neighbors would be very costly for syrians themselves because you have to keep in mind that once the war is over and it's still not over but if we were to imagine that base and military active military phases over syria. we'll be faced with the enormous reconstruction and rebuilding challenge and for that you will

need all the support you can gather to help your country rehabilitate you can't really ignore be standing of bashar al assad and the international community so all typically it's not only about the will of the syrian people it's also about how that will is perceived in the west them do you really think that syria can manage this rebuilding challenge on its own is one thing that is very specific about the syrian mentality how syrians view the situation is pretty much focused around the word independence now we have been over the past decades really since our independence from france been willing generation after generation to pay if you price for independence with never had a great economy unlike neighboring countries by the way i agree with you and i think syria syria syria has been under international sanctions on their western sanctions for quite some time and i think many syrian economist would argue that if and i think that hard period taught is self-reliance self-sufficiency but you also

have to recognize the extent of the challenge that you're facing because if the government was to reconciliation and rebuilding effort the cost would be astronomical and we also have to keep in mind that the economic ability of beer earning capacity of the syrian government is extremely handicapped now so again be it like the if the challenges are enormous but the ability to deal with them it is very limited it is very limited however again there are priorities in life and we are all thinking about what to bequeath to our new generations to our children grandchildren this notion of independence that we inherited from our fathers and grandfathers it is very important for us to preserve it will cost us we know so it's not going to be a good challenge there are also numerous challenges there are economical challenges with regards to rebuilding information the. infrastructure developing it rebuilding the houses that have been dispersed the destroyed you know replacing the people who

have been displaced from their houses you know either internally or externally and bringing up the social fabric once more there are quite a few challenges and the government that would be able to lead such an initiative is going to be perceived by everyone as fairly put in place which again reemphasizes the need for a full democratic process but it's not going to be easy left me ask you straight i understand that the more a president assad is asked to step down especially. during a time of war the lasky can i afford to do so but once syria transitions to peace building do you think it's in syria's best interest to have. somebody like him in power because he's obviously an extremely polarizing figure i'm even if he manages to be the bass president he can be the ultimate performance will still be under my by his own persona by

a by the way this persona is perceived internationally rather than domestically so is it in syria's best interest to have somebody like that at the top of the country i'm not asking about build a gentleman see i'm not asking about a democratic right of the people to live team i'm asking about the practicality of that choice and whether he can solve should abstain from running in those elections i think i think you're touching on very important points here so with regards to him as a person he has definitely suffered from a lot of you know the smearing and the past two years in the outside world and the arab world and a lot of people now see him rather as a monster actually but it does not put a lot of people stood by the current government it is not in our interest to to have a president in syria where part of the population and raise up rise up in arms against the government and have support from an outside force in order to enforce.

their political will on another part of the people that's why a lot of syrians stood by the government and they have presented a lot of their sons as marketeers i disagree with you that president assad doesn't have a choice because i think because of the all of that western intervention and all the calls for him to step down i think the the whole future of syria is actually rests on the decision of that one man i agree with that he enjoys enormous public support but i think that this public support and the extent of that support may actually work against syria's syria's interest it's ultimately asking him to make that decision of whether or not he's going to run the point of the matter is that there are a lot of people who have presented their sons and property to the benefit of chris . serving the current government as an illegitimate and workable framework now whether president assad. goes for election and presents himself as a candidate or not in the next year or two that's up to him what we are fighting

for is his right as a person just like any other syrian to go on and present himself as a candidate that's what we are fighting for it's a matter of principle not a matter of a person i personally you know i agree with you that it is going to be very hard for any syrian government led by president assad to open very rapidly to at least at least the surrounding goeth states the surrounding middle east and so on and so forth however there are other things to take into consideration which is how are the syrian people going to be willing or how much the syrian people are going to be willing to participate effectively in rebuilding their country if we now deprive those people of the right for this person to you know become a candidate for the next elections how do you go to that those people are going to be willingly participating in building of syria it doesn't only take outside

support to build syria it needs the inside will the will of its inside people of its own people to do the same i agree that they have the balance is extremely fine but again as you pointed out what's important is these two factors not only the support of the domestic support for assad unfortunately for it for syria but also the so-called goodwill of the international community now r.t. had a chance to ask president bashar assad what he can sell things about the role of the president in syria and here's what he had to say president cannot do anything without institutions and revoke support of the people so the fight is not presidents for the syrians for every syrian regime. in this country. now so essentially president assad here talking about democracy talking about the right of the people to elect that president but mr walker flats let's be honest here i mean

i think having these democratic talk is extremely naive us in a region of when you can openly support armed groups that would wager urban of warfare against the will of the syrian people after all nobody after the syrian people if they want to have this war in their country and nobody will as down if they're willing to. continue with that war if some countries were to choose to support those armed groups and then the tragedies of course is that those countries are likely to choose to support violence and massacres in syria as long as president bashar assad is in power that's a valid argument however we need as syrians to learn lessons on why we came under this fire to say this is what has been totally you know an outside factor isn't accurate in its entirety syrian's yes since the invasion of iraq in two thousand and three have been subject to the usual propaganda of a religious nature of a sectarian nature and this has culminated and broke into two thousand and eleven

and gave the those who went to up in arms against the government a lot of legitimacy and a lot of motivation actually of the sectarian division since two thousand and three invasion of iraq however we need as rational syrians as those who are in a position to have at least you know the ability to look forward we need to diffuse certain elements that agitate you know public opinion and give motivation for people to receive advice let alone arms from the outside this is a crucial argument but we will continue that discussion right after the break here on worlds apart.

i would rather ask questions to people in positions of power instead of speaking on their behalf and that's why you can fund my show larry king now right here on our key question more. we.

welcome back to worlds apart president assad has long defied western pressure to step down but should he do it of his own volition we have discussing that we have a marva cough syrian political commentator mr coffey i reported extensively from syria and i. do try to engage with. people who hold different political views in syria so last year i had a chance to sit down for an interview with abdul aziz al hare somebody who spanned one thousand years in prison during high. rule and here's what he had to say on the prospect of political reconciliation in syria. in a school for eight. to conference the military groups first of all the

regime second of all the groups over was that it's time it's high time deeds to come to a cease fire and to start negotiations about what to do now there have been reports that mr al harry is back in detention but. regardless of his current circumstances he's certainly somebody who has died have an axe to grind with the assad family and yet he's the one who. it's calling for a political dialogue but what do you do with those who would rather die than see any sort of political dialogue with president bashar al assad you have people who are desperate to get any gain from their what they perceive as their legitimate struggle over the past two years in order to justify the destruction the blood. and everything that they have taken the country towards that's why they insist on for

example president assad stepping down that would be for them again that would legitimize their struggle however there are rational people people who are you know experienced enough and know that the government is not going to for any soon and that the only. way forward if this is going to continue is more destruction and more bloodshed what do you do with the minority that will continue fighting and. messing with the society no matter what yes we've seen that time and time again throughout the past two years for example the u.n. have successfully brokered a couple of cease fires between the government and between the government forces and the rebels but that didn't last because you have so many small warlords all over the place and each of them runs his own mind so what we're having now at the moment is that the international community is trying to push the syrian political

wing opposition political wing into dialogue with the government but at the same time they are sending signals that they will be arming those people i think that is a grave mistake those people on the ground who have the weapons should be told in or uncertain terms that if a political process is on they should at least not get support this order of inference ability or around those people should disappear for any political dialogue or any political process to have a chance of succeeding regardless of how small is the number of those diehard elements the problem is that of course that the ecstatic hatred and violence. two concise proportions in syria that it's no longer geopolitical issue it's no longer an issue of democracy it's an issue of changing dynamics within the society and once the society gadson t.v.'s. war dynamic it's extremely difficult to pull it

back and the question it again comes back to president assad because those. elements you can argue that they are in the minority but those elements who fuel based violence in syria they would agree to not thing last and then getting rid of bashar al assad so sooner or later you will have to agree to that demand in order to avoid them even the bigger evil i guess what would be the guardian t that if president assad is forced to leave office and i stress on the workforce if he chooses to leave that's fine but he is forced what would be the go on t.v. for his supporters not to carry arms against the new government mr barak i'm not arguing for processing him to leave office what i'm arguing for is that as a leader as somebody who or obviously loves his country i think here his should really take into consideration whether or not he's wrong is indeed pacifying or dividing in syria and i would argue that maybe it would not be the best option for

him to run in those elections even if he thinks that the level of support there is enormous simply because again the these lines that he has both in domestic and international affairs is highly polarizing but it would be up to him as a president of the republic to assess the situation and choose what is the best for syria what we a syrian citizens are concerned with at the moment is to provide him with the right to provide the current government with the right to run through a democratic process where they can actually prove themselves either to be right or to be wrong and that would only be through the people now going back to your question with regards to these strong decisions indeed. and tension that has you know have built up throughout the past two years you know within the syrian society . as a syrian citizen i am all in hope that once this once the dust settles down.

people would go back to a lot of the material that was news that was circulated and discovered that a lot of them with of a propagandist nature a lot of the videos for example were from brooky to a lot of you know all these things would i know people to start asking questions did we really need to go that far did we really need to destroy our country for one month to step down and that sort of you know learning of lessons is going to reconcile i hope this is the one smaller and start to build bridges across the you know the very deep divisions that are there at the moment well i think you bring up a very interesting point of propaganda and i heard you saying on some of your earlier interviews that we shouldn't or rather the western commentators shouldn't compare bashar al assad to you more market off your saddam hussein and i see where you're coming from but i also think that. in bringing out of that imagery you're

actually playing into their western rhetorical tactics because i think you can find fault with any given leader including president bashar al assad but obviously. the problem is that those leaders that the i just mentioned where made into devil's incur and then essentially overnight their west was more or less fine did dealing with them until that decision to get rid of them was made so i think the propaganda machine is extremely powerful but the question is rather you are sometimes aiding it to yourself well there are two propaganda machines one that is preparing the western public opinion for any sort of political move like getting rid of prison we need to demonize him to invade syria there are some sort of talk about you know chemical weapon use and so on but the most devastating propaganda was from the surrounding arab countries especially from the likes. of qatar and saudi arabia and

the those propaganda machines played immediate. directly on the nerves and emotions of syrians from the very start of the crisis and lit people more and more agitated there was a lot of bloodshed that was emphasized there were a lot of fabricated videos little all the propaganda that has risen the sectarian hatred in syria since the invasion of iraq that was coming mainly from saudi arabia i think syria syrians were not the first people to experience that i think pretty much the same thing happened in libya and i already mentioned the name of more market off and i think he was one of those rare world leaders who really really attempted at some point in history to make a transition from being perceived as a pariah hero of the international community to trying to become a more accepted leader and i think for some limited period of time he was pretty successful i mean he was receiving presidents of france and britain and libya just

a couple of years before their prizing so my question to you is do you think there is any hope for president bashar assad to rebuild his reputation internationally and is there any chance for the international community to embrace him as a legitimate leader of his people provided of course that he wins the two thousand and fourteen election well if we think about syria as its own. you know if we frame the whole issue in the middle east around syria then probably it's going to be hard but if we think of syria at the moment as it really is which is a key for international competition then syria will become you know porridge of you know some reasonable do use some international deals that would make it easier for the western countries in specific to accept you know the president assad. you know the remaining in office. at least running for that office and he you know

really embrace him in a sense probably at arm's length aren't know it would be very hard for them to step down from the position from the ladder that they have you know you know insert you know it in gov them selves or got up to it they've gone very high he needs to go and this was very from the very beginning to step down it's going to be very hard for them but they might not have a any other choice just like they did with mammal qadhafi when they you know started to after the post iraqi war they started to really embrace him again president assad is unlike duffy he's still young. he still enjoys a lot of support in syria and it would be very rational for them to do so and say will cave probably we were deceived by the saudis probably we were deceived by the qataris i think of rationality unfortunately is not the quality that is rolling international politics these days and to your earlier point i think precisely

because many countries treat syria as these platform for waging proxy geopolitical battles it is said the main reason why we have such an enormous death toll in syria because nobody treat syria as a country but unfortunately all we have time for now please join us again same place same time here on the part. of the perfect material it's a lie you make just a small change and you get a totally different result. what are pretty top. little complicated. geometry we start by marking out the incision lines is

a. very intricate. my life has changed. the field operating table here more than just a very small table as long as i had a flashlight and a working battery and i had a good enough environment to work it. was among them along with some other terrorist leaders. he's reminiscing about just. looking at you but at the same time he's somewhere else. when i watch this. doesn't feel like me it's all and. it's someone totally different for someone i don't love you. hold it. hold it.

live. the speed. limit. the amount of money.

today's news on the week's top stories here. despite a rather chilly start. show of solidarity officials. there is skepticism that all of them will be able to. the u.s. warns hong kong of consequences should it fail to arrest the n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden who exposed washington's massive surveillance. getting hit with a water cannon in turkey as the government protests rage on we report from the cradle of. pleading for unity.